I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
Series: Sisters of the Salt #1
Published by Delacorte Press on 8/6/19
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Retellings, Young Adult
Pages: 416
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters, their father, and stepmother. Once they were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls' lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last--the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge--and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.

Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who--or what--are they really dancing with?

When Annaleigh's involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it's a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family--before it claims her next.

Short and Sweet

Annaleigh lives at Highmoor a manor by the sea. Once it was filled with her 12 sisters but four of them have died and each death was more tragic than the last. When Annaleigh starts seeing the ghosts of her dead sisters, she starts to believe that their deaths weren’t accidents and something more suspicious is at play. The rest of Annaleigh’s sister sneak out at night to go balls and dance the night away, and Annaleigh doesn’t know whether to join them or stop them.

Characters

Annaleigh: Our main character. I really liked Annaleigh she was more cautious than her sisters and always suspected that something was off even while they were out having fun. She cared about her sisters and was always trying to keep them safe, all while trying to figure out if her other sisters were murdered or not.

Camille: Camille is the oldest Thaumas sister, and she’ll eventually inherit everything. Camille was more uptight about everything but she loved going to the balls and dancing. Annaleigh and Camille are close and I’m glad that when it came down to it Camille believed and trusted Annaleigh.

Fisher: Fisher is a friend from childhood who comes to visit and stay with the family. Fisher was a love interest for Annaleigh and he usually protected the sisters when they went into town.

Cassius: Cassius is someone Annaleigh meets while in town, and she tends to bump into him a lot. Cassius was mysterious and he did have a few secrets he was keeping so you never know if you can trust him or not.

Romance

Annaleigh and Fisher: Fisher is a childhood friend and there was a few moments when he would get jealous when Annaleigh would talk to Cassius. In the end I think Fisher was more of a brother figure in Annaleigh’s eyes than a romantic interest.

Annaleigh and Cassius: Cassius is mysterious and theres not much of a back story on him. He came to town to take care of his father who is sick and ends up meeting Annaleigh. I really liked these two together. Cassius would try to soothe Annaleigh, and helped her during a time when no one else would.

Quotes

~”Just push me into the sea and return me to the Salt.”

My Thoughts

~ The Thaumas twelve is now down to eight. Every surrounding village believes that there is a curse on the family and some people even avoid being around them.

~ The family usually mourns for six months but Morella, the girls stepmother believes that they should cut the mourning short to celebrate her pregnancy along with the triplets 16th birthday.

~ The book does start slow but things start to pick up around the 30% mark.

~ Annaleigh seemed to be the only sister that thought there was foul play in the deaths of her older sisters. But Annaleigh wasn’t the only one that could see the ghost of her dead sisters, her youngest sister Verity could see them too.

~ I liked the relationship between Annaleigh a Verity, Annaleigh always looked out for Verity and tried to make sure she was okay. Annaleigh also worried when Verity started sketching pictures of their dead sisters.

~ The visions of the ghosts Annaleigh would see were creepy. I was worried for Annaleigh that something may happen but she was fine.

~ I thought that Annaleigh looking for clues and following her gut feeling was great. She knew something wasn’t right and she kept going even when everyone doubted her.

~ The ending was perfect and everything was wrapped up well.

~ This is a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, which is a story about twelve sisters who go out dancing every night and their dance shoes become worn out. Their father who is perplexed at this offers anyone who can figure out what the girls are doing their pick at which girl they want to marry.

Overall

I thought this book was great. I liked that there was a little bit of mystery along with the fact that this is a fairytale retelling that had its own spin. This was a great debut novel and I would definitely recommend it to those looking for a retelling with a chilling spin to it!